You Could Be My Someone
by Todd's Pet
Summary: A little ditty that turned up during lunch break today - another exploration of alternate realities and finding that special someone... maybe if I write enough of these I really will find Steve some day!


_You could be my someone_

_You could be my star_

_Galaxies between us_

_But that's not very far_

_(Lyrics By Puddle Of Mudd)_

Chapter One

He doesn't even know who this human is. He'd know if he'd ever seen her before and she's certainly not someone he's fed on; even in all these millennia, he would have remembered if he had.

No, he knows he's never met her, but he can't get her out of his head.

It started during his last hibernation cycle. He remembers it clearly, as vivid and real as anything that has happened to him since he woke.

At first he dreamed about her, about being with her. He was wraith and she was human and yet they were clearly partners, lovers, soul mates. They were living together on a planet with lush foliage, their surroundings obviously of ancient architecture, like paintings he's seen of the fabled Wraith Home World.

But later, as the dreams progressed, he felt a sense of deep loss that rippled through his brain in waves, like a powerful Tsunami, washing away everything in its wake and leaving him devastated, hopeless, with no will to live left.

She had gone, died like all humans eventually do.

Time passed in this strange dream world, centuries of feeling lost with a deep and abiding loneliness that even his brothers could not ease. He began looking for her on every planet they culled, visiting other hives and searching through the worshippers' quarters.

Steve never found her in his dreams and, since he was wakened from his hibernation, he's been unable to shake the unsettled feeling of loss. He stumbles through his days as if on automatic pilot, haunted by her face and her laugh, forever plagued by the urgent need to find her.

He has come to dread sleep, for he knows that whenever he closes his eyes he will see her – and, seeing her, he will long for her.

Chapter Two

She doesn't know who he is but she knows he's The One, her soul mate. When the dreams first started they were happy, wish-fulfillment scenes of living on a jungle planet teeming with life of all kinds, happy and content, like Adam and Eve.

But it wasn't long before the dreams became almost nightmarish and drifted off on a tangent, one where he was tantalizingly close yet always just slightly out of reach. There's something different about him but she could never see his face clearly. She merely had glimpses here and there of an ankle length black leather coat and long, smooth, pale blonde hair. Now and then she saw his face for the briefest of moments – his skin looked green, but she took that to be a trick of the light in the strange place she saw him in her later dreams.

He was no longer with her on the lush planet, but traveling endlessly, restless and angry and lonely. He was surrounded by weird semi-organic structures, dim pools of coloured light in a dark place that looked like some kind of alien nightclub.

Sally thinks of him as real, but knows she'll never see him anywhere other than in her dreams. Shy and socially awkward she would never in a million years have the courage to search for this nightclub and seek him out. The word "hive" runs through her mind at odd times of the day and she wonders if that's what he calls the place he lives in now.

And yet when she's dreaming she knows they belong together and when she's awake she can't shake the feeling that part of her is missing and she'll only ever be whole when she finds him.

Chapter Three

"Well, it's certainly not normal to dream in hibernation," his brother confirms. "Perhaps you slipped out of the pod-induced torpor and into normal REM sleep without the Watcher noticing it."

"In plain language, if you don't mind," Steve asks.

The scientist in his friend takes over with gusto. "Well, hibernation and sleep are two different and distinct things. Hibernation is a state of torpor; your heart and breathing rates slow down dramatically, your body temperature drops, you don't move around at all – and you don't dream. In all hibernating species, including us Wraith, it reduces the need for normal sleep, but it doesn't remove it completely." He gives Steve a pointed look and adds meaningfully, "This is why you're getting cranky if you haven't been sleeping at all recently."

"But every time I sleep I dream of her," Steve says, ignoring the dig.

"Well, if you don't sleep you'll eventually get ill." He deflects an incredulous look from Steve with, "Yes, brother, if they're as determined as you are to make it so, even Wraith can get ill. I'd suggest you either distract yourself with a worshipper or learn to live with it, because you must sleep." The Wraith rubs his long, braided goatee between his forefinger and thumb. "Unless…"

Steve leans forward and prompts him impatiently. "Unless what?"

"It's nothing, really."

Steve narrows his eyes threateningly. "I insist," he snarls quietly.

His friend sighs in exasperation. "Well, I've heard it told that some humans have learned to control their dreams; they call it lucid dreaming. You have to tell yourself before you sleep that, if the dream occurs, you'll become semi-conscious and be able to direct events in the dream, control where it goes. That way you'll be able to find her location, hunt her down for real, and get her out of your system."

"That simple, huh?" Steve says disbelievingly.

"I never said it was simple, bro."

Chapter Four

"Hi, I'm Sian. You are…?" The woman throws herself into the chair beside Sally, who quickly swallows her mouthful of sandwich, un-used to anyone speaking to her during lunch break.

"I'm the new girl," Sian says without waiting for a reply. "Are they all stuck-up, tight-assed, mean-spirited—"

"Em, Sally."

"What?"

"My name… you asked…"

"Oh, right!" Sian sticks out her hand, grabs Sally's and pumps it up and down a few times. "Pleased to meet you, Sally, I'm Sian; just started today."

"I'm afraid so…"

"Huh?"

"The people here," Sally tries to explain. "You asked if they're all stuck-up and—"

Sian laughs and says, not unkindly, "Are you always one step behind in conversations?"

Sally blushes furiously. "Sorry, I'm not, you know, socially sophisticated."

"Well, you seem a lot nicer than the rest of them," Sian says. "Want to talk about it?" Sally's eyes widen and she can't think of anything to say. "The thing that's bothering you," Sian adds. "I can tell, you know – sixth sense." She taps the side of her nose with her index finger.

"Oh, I don't talk about… I mean I've never…"

"Can't say I blame you, working with this lot. Not the kind you'd confide in, are they?" Sian ploughs on cheerfully. "Have you thought of hypnotherapy? It can make sense of stuff - past lives, dreams."

"Dreams?"

"Yes, recurring dreams, nightmares, that kind of thing."

"They're not exactly nightmares, but…"

"You and me should stick together, Sis," Sian says, giving Sally's shoulder an affectionate squeeze.

"You know, I think you could be right," Sally replies, without really knowing why.

Chapter Five

"Yes, but would it be real?" Steve asks his scientist friend anxiously.

"According to this, yes," the other Wraith says. "It says here that the dream state can thin the veil between dimensions," he goes on excitedly. "A few of us have dreams that are so vivid they dip us into other realities."

"Yes, but 'other realities'… are they really real?" Steve presses.

"As real as you and me, bro."

"And you think you can tweak the fluid exchange system enough to get me there? Get me to where she is - for real?"

"Well, it is all theoretical, of course, never having tried it myself. And you must understand that I've never attempted such adjustments before and there's always an element of—"

Steve puts his hand on his friend's arm and glares at him as if he were about to feed on him. "Just tell me - can you do it?"

A wash of pride sweeps over the other's face and he replies, "Of course I can do it. I'm just trying to explain that there's a certain level of risk involved and I'm not sure that—"

"I'll take the risk."

"The next hibernation period is coming up and it would certainly encompass a human's entire lifetime, but you're not on the list for the next cycle."

"So put me on the list."

"But if She ever found out that I'd altered the lists and then tampered with the life support systems, I dread to think what She'd do to me!"

"And how is She ever going to find out?" Steve puts his arm across the other's shoulders in a show of brotherliness. "I'll owe you one – big time."

Chapter Six

"It says here that recurring dreams could be a past life, one your soul yearns to go back to," Sian suggests over coffee after work.

"Well, in that case I'll definitely never meet him then, will I?" Sally says, disheartened. "I mean if he's been dead for centuries then what's the point in looking for him?"

"Don't be daft," Sian laughs. "If you've been reincarnated then so has he. He might even be searching for you as we speak. How romantic is that?" Sian sighs.

"And in a world with almost seven billion people, how on earth do two people find each other with only a vague dream to go on?"

"Oh, you never know…" Sian says, picking up the local newspaper from the table between them. "Love will find a way and all that."

Sally sips her cappuccino despondently as her friend scans the cinema listings. Suddenly, Sian squeals.

"Oh, my God! Sis, look at this!" She thrusts the paper toward her friend. "There's a new nightclub opening this weekend! Look! Look what it's called: The Hive!"

She pokes the paper excitedly and Sally only just manages to focus on the dark coloured square filled with gothic-style text. Her eyes are drawn to the photographs of the interior of the new nightclub and the sense of recognition washes over her in waves so powerful she fears she'll faint.

"This is a sign if ever I saw one, Sis!" Sian enthuses. "We have to go!"

Chapter Seven

Steve watches his scientist friend from where he stands inside his hibernation pod. He wishes he didn't look so nervous, but he has every faith in his technical abilities – even if he is a little dubious about his brother's theory that he can live a real life in another dimension while his wraith body remains in hibernation on this hive.

He feels the ship's lifelines connect with his body and the rush of cold fluids fill his veins. His head seems to contract and expand at the same time as his mind and body prepare to shut down. Steve closes his eyes and thinks of her and hopes that, this time, he won't spend more than a century searching for her.

The fact that his brother's heart rate suddenly soars within minutes of the hibernation cycle commencing gives the wraith scientist cause for concern. He stays a while, watching and tinkering, tinkering and watching, just to be on the safe side – as much for himself as for his friend, since he doesn't want to be caught tampering with the hibernation pods.

Chapter Eight

Sally wishes she'd never allowed Sian to talk her into coming here; she feels like a fish out of water. But just as she thinks she should make her excuses and leave, she sees him from across the dance floor, standing in a pool of green light.

Her attention is instantly drawn by his blonde hair; smooth and shining and so pale it's almost white. Not many guys have the panache to pull off wearing hair like that long and loose and hanging down his back to his waist – but he does. His sense of style is topped off with Cuban heeled boots and an ankle length black leather coat.

She knows it's him because, under the coloured spotlight, his skin looks green – so much like her dream it couldn't be just coincidence.

He turns in her direction and the eyes that catch hers look like yellow cat's eyes. She shakes her head and when she looks back his pupils are big and wide in the dim light of the club as his eyes search the crowd, as if looking for someone.

"He's beautiful." The words escape her like a soft sigh.

"It's definitely him?" Sian asks. Sally simply nods her head while she stares at him. "Go talk to him then," her friend encourages her.

"I couldn't! Someone like him would never be interested in me."

No sooner has she spoken the words than he sees her. As she watches him head toward her Sally's head spins and she's grateful she's seated.

"Hi! Are there more like you at home?" Sian asks him when reaches their table.

"There are many more like me at home," he replies. Then he smiles, as if recalling a secret joke, and adds, "But home is very far away…"

He turns to Sally and holds his hand toward her. She lets him lead her onto the dance floor and, as he wraps his arms around her shoulders, she melts against him. He rocks her gently in time with the music and she gazes into his eyes, such a pale hazel that they're almost golden.

He smiles at her and sets her soul alight.

"I've been looking for you for a very long time. You feel it too, don't you?" he whispers softly into her hair. "This place is noisy and crowded – can we go somewhere quieter?"

"Yes," she replies. What was the use in denying it? "But…" she looks up into his eyes. "I don't even know your name."

"Steve. My name is Steve."

Steve leads Sally outside and, under the stars, she walks off into the night, holding her future, her life, her soul mate by the hand.

Epilogue

The wraith scientist finishes re-setting the life support and environmental controls and is relieved to see his friend's readings have settled down again. Satisfied that everything is now as it should be, he turns to leave when something catches the corner of his eye.

There, in his hibernation pod, Steve is smiling. His friend returns the smile and strolls off down the corridor, knowing that Steve will be just fine for the next hundred years or so. For, just before he left, he picked up a crystal clear thought from Steve inside his pod: At last, I've found her.

THE END


End file.
